Warriors fade after fast start, fall to Blackhawk
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Elizabeth Forward鈥檚 Zach Boyd darts between Blackhawk defenders Mikey Hixenbaugh (11) and Ryan Jones (13) during Wednesday night鈥檚 WPIAL Class 4A first-round playoff game at West Allegheny High School.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Elizabeth Forward鈥檚 Nico Mrvos (2) puts up a shot in the lane as Blackhawk鈥檚 Aiden Wolfgong defends during Wednesday night鈥檚 WPIAL Class 4A first-round playoff game at West Allegheny High School.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Elizabeth Forward鈥檚 Patrick Filson (15) drives past Blackhawk鈥檚 Ryan McClymonds (12) during Wednesday night鈥檚 WPIAL Class 4A first-round playoff game at West Allegheny High School.
Rob Burchianti | 缅北禁地
Elizabeth Forward鈥檚 Chase Vaughn scores despite the defense of Blackhawk鈥檚 Ryan Heckathorn during Wednesday night鈥檚 WPIAL Class 4A first-round playoff game at West Allegheny High School. Vaughn scored a team-high 16 points in the Warriors鈥� 72-49 loss.
IMPERIAL 鈥� Elizabeth Forward landed the first punch but Blackhawk quickly recovered and roared back for a 72-49 victory in WPIAL Class 4A boys basketball playoff action Wednesday night.
The fifth-seeded Cougars (12-10) connected on 11 3-pointers, including seven by Tyler Fedisin, who finished with a game-high 23 points, in rallying from an early nine-point deficit at West Allegheny High School. Ryan Heckathon followed with 21 points, Marco Borello hit a pair of 3-pointers is tallying 10 points and James Darno also had 10 points.
Blackhawk will play fourth-seeded Uniontown in a quarterfinal game at noon on Saturday at Canon-McMillan High School.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e one of those teams, they have everything,鈥� EF coach Matt Loftis said of the Cougars. 鈥淭hey have a strong point guard, they have two bigs underneath that can finish on the blocks and then they have shooters around it. Usually you can pick and choose an area that you want to take away. They鈥檙e not one of those teams.
鈥淚 fully expect them to give Uniontown some problems on Saturday.鈥�
The 12th-seeded Warriors jumped out to a 15-6 lead in the first quarter, forcing Blackhawk coach Brooks Roorback to use a pair of early timeouts. The opening onslaught included two 3-pointers by Chase Vaughn, a trey and a basket by Zach Boyd and buckets by Patrick Filson and Evan Lewis.
Borello closed the quarter with a 3-pointer to make it 15-9 and the Cougars opened the second with a 13-1 burst that included treys by Borello, Fedisin and Ryan McClymonds to take control. Blackhawk kept the pressure on and outscored EF 25-5 in the frame for a 34-20 halftime lead.
鈥淭he energy was good early,鈥� Loftis said. 鈥淲e were focused on the bus. We were focused when we left the school today. I think we were excited to be here.
鈥淚t didn鈥檛 last after that first quarter, which is unfortunate, but I was proud of the way the guys came out. We had a game plan in place that we stuck to. We gave them some problems early but they made a couple more adjustments than we did that kind of gave us some issues later on in the game.鈥�
Blackhawk started the second half on an 11-3 run to take a 22-point lead and never looked back.
Vaughn led the Warriors (8-14) with four 3-pointers and 16 points, and Boyd added a trio of treys in scoring 12 points. Filson had one 3-pointer and nine points.
It was the final game for Elizabeth Forward seniors Filson, Vaughn and Raf Delao.
鈥淭his is my second year here and all three of those seniors were in the gym on day one,鈥� Loftis said. 鈥淭hey worked extremely hard with me and my assistant Jon (White), never giving us an ounce of problem. They鈥檙e going to be successful in whatever they do. They鈥檙e good people on top of being good basketball players.鈥�